The evangelist Mark wrote his Gospel for the persecuted Christians in Rome, who lived in constant fear of being thrown to the wild beasts. When Mark opens his account of the story of Jesus, he tells how Jesus is with the wild beasts in the wilderness. Jesus is the innocent one, but his innocence does not protect him from conflict, from trial, from suffering, from facing adversary. Innocence does not dispel conflict; rather, it attracts it.

Mark says that Satan tempted Jesus. The word Satan in Hebrew simply means as adversary, and in the Old Testament it was first used of human opponents. For example, when the Philistines were afraid that the young David would emerge as their Satan, they simply meant their enemy (1 Samuel 29:4). When King Solomon delighted that there was neither Satan nor misfortune any more, he meant that he was at rest from his enemies (1 Kings 5:4). Later the word came to mean an accuser of people before God. Finally it came to mean God’s Adversary, a demonic spirit opposed to God. By the time of the New Testament, Satan was understood to be the principal spirit of evil who was involved in a mighty struggle against God, a struggle that would only end in the last days of history.

Whatever be the meaning of the word Satan, today’s gospel says Jesus experienced a struggle, temptation or some adversaries in fulfilling his ministry in this world. The adversary will appear again in the ministry – as when Jesus tells Peter: “Get behind me, Satan! Because the way you think is not God’s way but man’s” (Mk 9:33). As the law and the prophets say, the Son of Man should suffer and get into his glory. The adversary gave an easy way or solution. The whole life of Jesus was a journey to his glorification.

Our life, as if we feel sometimes, is a life in the wilderness, in the midst of wild beasts, like social and economical issues, family and religious problems, personal and identical crisis, cultural and National issues. To avoid or to find an easy solutions for the present day crisis is to hear the advise of the adversary. Can we take our life in the desert up to the resurrection? To give up some thing for Lent is great. We need to face the adversary within and around us. At the beginning of Lent the Church always takes us into the wilderness with Jesus, to face the power that opposed to the Gospel. We are all tempted; we all fail; we all sin. Sometimes we might wonder if there is an exit from the wilderness. The exit is to face it with the help of Jesus. This is a lifetime’s task. Lent reminds us of our need to begin again facing the enemy within us.